Maurice Taggart's law license has been temporarily suspended by the state Office of the Committee on Professional Conduct.
Taggart, the former head of the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency, was charged last week with 46 counts of forgery, 38 counts of theft of property and one count of abuse of office. The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney's office believes Taggart, along with Rodrick Morris of Houston, stole $667,384 from the agency that Taggart ran for four years.
When Taggart left his job at Urban Renewal in late 2021, he said he had just received his law license and was going to open a practice in Pine Bluff.
Taggart's name was listed on an Arkansas Judiciary page with a current status of "Interim Suspension," the result of a disciplinary action taken Wednesday by the Office of Professional Conduct.
Taggart did not respond to a text asking for a comment.
The site also lists the rule violation under which Taggart was disciplined.
"When a panel of the Committee finds that an attorney has violated any provisions, the panel is authorized "to temporarily suspend the lawyer's privilege to practice law pending final adjudication and disposition of a disciplinary matter," according to a provision relating to the professional conduct of attorneys. "Interim suspension shall be appropriate" when there is a "misappropriation of funds or property" and when the attorney is considered a "substantial threat of serious harm to the public or to the lawyer's clients."
When Taggart was charged on June 1, his only statement regarding the matter was aimed at his clients and would indicate that he believed he would be able to continue practicing law.
"To all my clients, like I always tell you, you're innocent UNLESS proven guilty," he wrote. "In light of that, just know that I remain steadfast in representing each of you and that won't change. If I'll fight tooth and nail for you, imagine what I'll do for myself."
Since then, additional legal problems have surfaced regarding Taggart. Five people have filed complaints against him in Jefferson County and Pine Bluff district courts saying he took their money for legal work but never did what he had agreed to do. And he had been a part-time public defender in Jefferson County, but the state Public Defender Commission said shortly before charges were filed against Taggart that he was no longer employed with the public defender office.
Taggart turned himself in to authorities last Friday, and Morris, who faces identical charges against him as Taggart except for the abuse of office charge, turned himself in on Sunday. Both men immediately bonded out.
In the affidavits for both men, prosecutors said they believe Morris sent false invoices for asbestos removal and abatement work, related to dilapidated properties, to Taggart, who then processed them. The city of Pine Bluff would then pay the invoices, prosecutors said.
The Urban Renewal Agency is a subsidiary agency to Go Forward Pine Bluff and is funded through the Go Forward-sponsored five-eighths-cent sales tax.